In 1967, during the Vietnam War, a group of three new recruits arrives at Harris Island for boot camp. Their names were Tod R. Fox, Copper B. Hound, and Dodger R. Terrier. They all were taken to their platoon where they met their drill instructor who only went by the name of Scar.
"I am Gunnery Sergeant Scar, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?" Scar said pacing back and forth looking the men over.
"Sir, yes Sir." replied the men loudly.
"If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You'll be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even fucking soldiers." Sgt. Scar went on like he was possessed by true evil. "You are nothing but unorganized pieces of crap! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard, but I am fair." explained the drill instructor.
Tod, Copper, and Dodger could tell that this was their first step into hell. They knew that Scar took things to seriously, but they had to be careful not to get on his bad side..
"Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?" yelled Scar finishing his explanation.
"Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?" joked Tod quietly, but Scar heard the joke.
"Who said that?" asked Scar with a growl as he looked for the wise guy among all the recruits. "WHO THE HELL SAID THAT!" he yelled.
Tod knew that this were going to ugly, so the young soldier came out with the truth even thought he knew he would get in trouble. Scar was amazed when he got the truth from Tod, he never met a guy who wasn't afraid to tell the truth.
"I like you, Private Fox! But, I will have you punished for opening your mouth!." chuckled the drill instructor evilly. "Yes Sir!" replied Tod standing firm.
Scar took Tod out of the room, the others watched with amazement because they never saw a new guy take a punishment like a man. Dodger looked at Copper with concern.
"What do you think will happen to Tod?" asked Dodger, as he rubbed his head.
"I don't know, Dodger, but I hope it's not going to be to bad on Tod," replied Copper sadly.
Tod's punishment was a nightmare! Scar took the young soldier to Zira his wife. The lioness was beautiful, but very evil and violent. Scar would bring rule beakers to her for punishment.
The next day Copper and Dodger found Tod only in his boxer shorts. "What happened, Tod?" asked Copper with concern as he helped his friend to his feet.
"I was put through hell with the drill instructor's wife, Zira!" cried Tod as he explained. "But, I took what came at me like a man witch Scar admired."
After awhile Tod, Copper, and Dodger went to the shooting range with the rest of the platoon. Scar was waiting for the soldiers, he took some M14 rifles out of some boxes. Each soldier was given a rifle. The platoon listened to Scar as he gave them facts about a soldier and his rifle.
"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle. It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. You will become dead marines and then you will be in a world of shit because marines are not allowed to die without permission. Do you maggots understand?" stated Scar loudly.
"We get you Sir!" replied the soldiers. They then loaded their rifles to began the rifle training.
Tod, Copper, Dodger, and the platoon turned out to be great shooters after a few weeks of failing on the first day, but now they were becoming real soldiers. Scar was vary impressed with how his men were turning out. They first could not do anything right, but now they were what he asked for, especially Tod.
One night the soldier were getting ready for bed when their drill instructor came in with his wife. The soldier did not know what to aspect.
"All right you maggots listen up!" Scar said with a evil laugh. "Zira wants one of you to be her date for the night."
The soldiers did not like that at all because they hated Zira, but they all knew that only one would be her date. Tod was chosen to be her date, but before he left with her, Scar gave them an order for the night.
"Tonight, you pukes will sleep with your rifles. You will give your rifle a girl's name because this is the only pussy you people are going to get. You're married to this piece. This weapon of iron and wood. And you will be faithful." he growled.
The soldier go into their bunks, pulled their blankets over them, put their rifles at their sides, and said the chant. "This is my rifle. There are many others like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my rifle and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of our enemy, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen."
Tod was taken back to Zira's room for another night of hell. Meanwhile Copper and Dodger got out of their bucks to help Tod. "I hope that Zira hasn't done anything horrible to him!" said Copper with a shudder.
The two dog soldiers came to Zira's room and found her dead on the floor do to a hit on the head, as well as Tod who now was mentally broken down. They now realized that Zira had raped him when Scar took him to his wife the first time. They also saw Tod sitting on the bed with a M14 rifle in his lap that he used to kill her and he was loading it.
"Hi guys," laughed Tod wildly. "I'm... in a world... of shit."
Dodger slowly moved toward Tod to help his friend. "Tod, are those... live rounds?" he asked reaching his hand out to him.
"Seven-six-two millimeter. Full metal jacket." answered Tod with a evil smile. The young soldier then pointed the rifle at his friends.
For two hours the young soldier held his friends at gunpoint. That's when Scar came into the room and confronted Tod for killing Zira, but the young soldier showed no sign of fear. The evil drill instruktor could not believe that he could not make the young soldier back down.
Copper stepped in because he now knew why the platoon feared Scar and Zira. "You turned that woman into a sexual predator. You use her for to get a sexual thrill by letting her take advantage of the soldiers!" barked Copper.
Scar was about to attack Copper, but Tod aimed his rifle at him. "You can't do that you fuck!" growled the drill instructor. "Wrong!" was Tod's only reply.
With that Tod shot Scar right in the head and watched as the dead drill instructor fall to the floor. He then looked sadly at his friends, then put the rifle in his mouth, and was about to commit suicide, but Dodger rushed him. He and Tod rolled on the ground, but Copper helped brake up the fight, and then he called for some help.
Tod was released from the army after many weeks in a mental army hospital. As he was about to leave the base he saw Dodger and Copper getting on a plane that was going to take them to Vietnam. The three soldier exchanged their farewells for the last time.
"Thanks for looking out for me guys." cried Tod happily. "Hey, Tod, a good soldier never leaves a man behind." said Copper wiping tears from his eyes.
Dodger had one thing to say to his friend as well. "It says in the Bible that a friend sticks closer then a brother," he said patting Tod on the back. "Also if anything happened to you, your wife Vixey would beat the shit out of me!" he added with a laugh as he boarded the plane.
"My wife knows what happened because she got the news, but she's not a violent girl!" explained Tod with a sigh.
Tod waved goodbye to his friend as the plane took off. He was grateful that his days in hell were over, but his friends were about to enter a hell called the Vietnam War.
THIS STORY WAS INSPIRED BY THE 1987 WAR MOVIE FULL METAL JACKET.
ALSO LOOK FOR MORE STORIES OF THE WAR WITH DISNEY ANTHROS.